Photographic developing apparatus.



J. S. GREENE.

PHOTOGRAPH-l6 DEVELOPING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-3,1915.

1 ,21 6,440. Patented Feb. 20, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

WITNESSES: IN l/E/VTOR his ATTORNEYS Jizzz frame/w: R W W J. S. GREENE.

PHOTOGRAPHIC DEVELOPING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION man SEPT-3.19m.

1,216,440. Patented Feb.20,1917.

3 SHEETS- SHEET 2.

WITNESSES: MI VE N TOR W a (757/212 5. area/2e 70119 ATTORNEYS J. S.GREENE.

PHOTOGRAPHIC DEVELOPING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-3,19%.

1,216,440. Patented Feb.20,1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

INI/ENTOR Ta7m/ S. area/26 WWW m y 7221's A TTOR/VE rs UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

JOHN S. GREENE, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 COMMERCIAL CAMERACOMPANY, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF RHODE ISLAND.

PHOTOGRAPI-IIC DEVELOPING APPARATUS.

Application filed September 3, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN S. GREENE, of Rochester, in the county ofMonroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Photographic Developing Apparatus; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a partof this application, and to the reference-numerals marked thereon.

My present invention relates to photography and more particularly todeveloping apparatus such as is used in combined photographic anddeveloping machines where a continuous web of paper or other sensitizedmaterial is exposed, severed into separate sheets and developed beforebeing withdrawn from the machine as a practically continuous operation.The sheet or web is fed from the exposing chamber into the developingliquid and an object of the present invention is to facilitate themanipulation of the sheet and insure proper positioning thereof in thedeveloping liquid. The invention contemplates the provision of a simpleand accessible mechanism that will both properly submerge the sheet andagitate the liquid during development and will further provide forrendering the sheet accessible to the hands of the operator when it ischamber;

time to withdraw it. To these and other ends the invention resides incertain improvements and combinations of parts all as will behereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed outin the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a photographic exposing and developingmachine constructed in accordance with and illustrating one embodimentof my invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the developing container and its fittings;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal, central vertical section of a portion of themachine, enlarged, showing the roll holding chamber, the exposingchamber and the developing Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 20, 1917.

Serial No. 48,763.

Fig. 4 is a transverse section through the developing chamber takensubstantially on the line 4-1 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section through the developing containershowing the tray in normal position;

Fig. 6 is a similar view with the tray in position to discharge thesheet, and

Fig. 7 is a transverse section through the container taken substantiallyon the line 7 -7 of Fig. 5. 7

Similar reference numerals throughout the several figures indicate thesame parts.

I have illustrated my invention in connec tion with a commercial cameraadapted to take successive pictures on a continuous sensitized web ofpaper. Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 and 3, 1 indicates thecamera body; 2 the bellows and 3 the front, the latter carrying a lenstube 4. Within the body 1 at the rear of the bellows is an exposurechamber 5. Partitions 6 and 7 forming the rear wall of the exposurechamber define the focal plane of the camera and held against this wallto be fed downwardly across the same is the continuous web of sensitizedpaper 8 which is drawn from a roll 9 in a storage chamber 10 by feedrollers 11 between which it passes to issue at 12 into the developingchamber 13. A knife 14 operated by a gear 15 on a shaft 16 fitted with ahandle 17 on the exterior of the machine intersects the passage 12 belowthe rollers 11 and severs the exposed portion of the strip 8 into sheetsof suitable sizes. The present machine is equipped to expose either along area of the strip or web 8 down the entire extent of the walls 6-7or a short area corresponding to the extent of the partition member 7and about half as long as the first mentioned exposure. For the smallerpic ture, the upper portion of that part of the strip which is in thefocal plane is masked by a suitable shutter 18 and accordingly as halfor the entire field is exposed, the web is fed into the developingchamber 13 a short or a long distance and is cut into correspondinglyshort or long sheets. a

In the practice of the present invention, I

provide the developing chamber 13 with a preferably removable tank orcontainer 19 one end of which is arranged below the passage 12 toreceive the exposed end of the web 8 and in order to direct theadvancing edge of the sheet toward the center of the container, the saidend is preferably provided with suitable inclined guides 20 spaced fromeach other across the width of the tank. Alternating with these guidesare a. plurality of preferably flexible fingers 21 mounted upon a.bridge piece 22 having a trend in the same direction as the guide andspaced therefrom and from the bottom of the container. Because of themanner in which the web leaves the roll 9, the tendency of its free endto curl is in an upward direction and the function of the fingers 21 isto overcome this curling action and to submerge the sheet as it proceedsinto the tank. As soon as it becomes saturated with the developingsolution that the tank is designed to hold, this curling action on thepart of the .web is overcome so that the fingers 21 need not extend forany great distance.

The ability on the part of the feed rollers 11 to thrust the exposedsheet any considerable distance into the container is not constant andas soon as the exposed portion is severed from the web, the rollers nolonger exercise any control over it. The result is that the rear end ofthe sheet protrud s and means must be provided to draw it down to a flatposition in the container. To these ends, I provide in the presentinstance two transverse shafts 23 and 24 that span the container. Bothare carried by a displaceable cover portion 24 that lies over the rearend of the container 19 and is hinged at 25 to the camera casing 1 sothat access may be had to the container by lifting the cover. The shaft23 is journaled in brackets 31 on the sides of the latter over the rearof the container while the shaft 24 is carried on extension arms 26which position it at the forward end of the pan beneath the cuttingmechanism and above the fingers 21. Both shafts are provided with hubs27 and 28 carrying flexible paddle blades or arms 29 and 30 that areadapted to brush the bottom of the container when the shafts arerotated. I prefer at present to make these arms of thick sheet rubberand the arms 30 on the forward shaft are arranged to alternate with thefingers 21.

The two shafts are synchronously driven by asprocket chain 32 runningover sprockets 33 and 34 fixed to the shafts and also over a sprocket 35on a drive shaft 36 journaled in the sides of the cover 24 andterminating in a crank handle 37 on the exterior of the latter. As theyrotate, the blades 29 and 30 revolve and intermittently engage thesurface of the sheet that has been partially introduced into thecontainer and by such frictional surface contact, impel it rearwardlyuntil it occupies a central position in the container. The blades alsoinsure the submergence of the sheet and have the further function ofstirring up the developing'solution so that it is kept in. circulationand acts evenly on the sensitive medium. The extreme forward position ofthe shaft 24 and its blades is calculated to insure enga gement with theshorter sheets previously described which are passed on to the blades 29that finally deliver them at the rear.

It will be observed that the web is turned over or faced downward as itenters the developing chamber 13 so that the rear face of the paper orother sensitized support is presented to the blades and not the coatedside.

In order to prevent the blades from splashing the developing agent overthe rear of the container, I provide a curved shield 38 similar to apaddle box to inclose the blades 29 which shield is pivoted to the shaft23 by arms 39 and has yoke links 40 straddling the drive shaft 36 tolimit and define the lowered position of the shield. The shield may beraised to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3 to gain access tothe container.

After development, which takes place in the dark chamber 13, the sheetsare trans ferred by hand for further treatment into another rearwardlyarranged container 41 over an apron 42 projecting from the rear ofcontainer 19 by raising a door 43 in, the cover 24 hinged at 44. Inorder to facilitate this operation. I provide a tray 46 that normallylies within the container 19 close against the bottom thereof as bestshown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7 and also in Fig. 2. At its forward end thetray is hung from the walls of the container by a pivoted linkconnection 47 operating between stops 48 and 49, while the horizontalhandle portion 50 projeets rearwardly from the opposite end to theexterior of the apparatus as shown in Fig. 3. The front edge of the trayunderlies the guides 20 so that the severed sheet indicated at 8 inFigs. 5, 6 and 7 is delivered onto it instead of lying against thebottom of the container itself. When it is desired to remove the sheet,the tray is swung on the link 47 to the position shown in Fig. 6 withits rear end raised and resting on the corresponding edge of thecontainer. This movement also raises the door 43 a. short distance andthe advanced edge of the sheet 8 becomes accessible to the operatorsfingers for withdrawing it into container 41 with a rapid movement thatallows very little light to enter the developing chamber 13. The bottomof the tray is preferably provided with ribs 51 at points where theywill op pose the contact of the blades 29-30 and prevent the sheet fromsticking to the bottom of the tray.

It will be observed that all of the feeding mechanism including theblades is carried by the cover 24: and is swung completely out of theway wnen the cover is raised making the whole developing chamber 13 andthe container 19 readily accessible.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a photographic developing machine, the combination with a liquidcontainer adapted to receive the exposed sheets, of a rotary deviceadapted to intermittently engage the sheets in the container and advancethem through the container and to also act as an agitator for theliquid.

2. In a photographic developing machine, the combination with a liquidcontainer adapted to receive the exposed sheets, of a rotary devicehaving flexible arms adapted to intermittently engage the sheets in thecontainer and advance them through the container and to project belowthe level of the liquid in the container.

3. In a photographic developing machine, the combination with acontainer adapted to receive the exposed sheets, of a flexible armarranged to engage the sheets below the level of liquid in the containerand advance them through the container by surface contact and means foroperating the arm.

4. In a photographic developing machine, the combination with acontainer adapted to receive the exposed sheets, of a flexible, movablearm traveling in a path enabling it to brush the bottom of the containerand adapted to advance the sheets through the latter by surface contact.

5. In a photographic developing machine, the combination with acontainer adapted to receive the exposed sheets and means forintroducing the latter edgewise therein at one end, of a flexible armarranged to engage the sheets and advance them through the containertoward the other end by surface contact and means for operating the arm.a.

6. In a photographic developing machine, the combination with a coveredcontainer adapted to receive the exposed sheets and means forintroducing the latter edgewise therein at one end, the container beingaccessible to the operator at the other end, of a flexible arm arrangedto engage the sheets and advance them through the container from one endto the other by surface contact, and means for operating the arm.

7. In a photographic developing machine, the combination with acontainer adapted to receive the exposed sheets, acasing covering thesame and means for introducing the sheets edgewise into the container atone end, the latter being accessible through the casing at the otherend, of a shaft spanning the container, a hub thereon, rubber bladessecured to the hub adapted to engage the a sheets and advance themthrough the container from one end to the other by surface contact andmeans on the exterior of the casing for turning the shaft to operate theblades.

8. In a photographic developing machine, the combination witha containeradapted to receive the exposed sheets, a casing covering the same andhaving a displaceable portion and means for introducing the sheets intothe container at one end, the latter being accessible through the'casingat the other end, of a revolving flexible arm mounted upon thedisplaceable portion of the casing to engage the sheets and advance themthrough the container from one end toward the other by surface contactand means on the exterior of the said portion for revolving the arm.

9. In a photographic developing machine, the combination with acontainer adapted to receive the exposed sheets, a casing covering thesame and having a displaceable portion at one end of the container, andmeans for introducing the sheets into the container at the other end,the container being accessible through the displaceable portion of thecasing, of a revolving flexible arm mounted upon the displaceableportion of the casing to engage the sheets at one end of the containerand advance them toward the other by surface contact, an extension onSaid portion, another similar flexible member revolubly carried by theextension to engage the sheets at the other end of the container,driving connections between the two arms and means on the exterior ofthe said por tion of the casing for revolving one of the arms and,through it, the other.

10. In a photographic developing machine, the combination with acontainer adapted to receive the exposed sheets, and provided withfingers forming submerging guides at one end and means for introducingthe sheets at said end of the container beneath the guides, of a rotaryelement spanning the container and a plurality of flexible arms carriedthereby to alternate with and pass between the guide fingers and adaptedto engage the sheets and advance them toward the other end of thecontainer.

11. In a photographic developing machine, the combination with a coveredcontainer adapted to receive the exposed sheets,

of a tray within the container and means for conducting the sheets intothe tray from one end of the container, said container be ing accessiblethrough the cover at the other end, the tray being pivotally connectedto the container at the first mentioned end to permit it to be raised atthe other end to bring the sheets over the edge of the container.

12. In a photographic developing machine, the combination with a coveredcontainer adapted to receive the exposed sheets, of the latter to permitit to be raised at the of a tray within the container, means for otherend and brought over the edge of the conducting the sheets into the trayfrom one contzuner.

end of the container, the latter being ac- JOHN S. GREENE. cessiblethrough its cover at the other end Witnesses:

and a pivoted link connection between the RUSSELL B. GRIFFITH,

tray and container at the first mentioned end AGNES NESBITT BIssELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patent Washington, D. G.

